Ilse Meyer Papers

Ilse Meyer née Gottheiner (1906 - 2008) was a left-wing political refugee from Berlin, Germany. Born into a Jewish Communist family as the daughter of Dr Alfred Gottheiner and Elisabeth Gottheiner née Ostberg. Ilse studied Law for three years at Berlin, Freiburg and Frankfurt Universities and at the age of 21 became a member of the Young Communist League of Germany. In 1931, she married Ernst Meyer, a dedicated and active Communist, musicologist and composer. Due to their political status, the pair were forced to leave Germany in 1933 and settled in London, England in October of that year as refugees of Nazi oppression. In 1939, as German refugees fled to England via Prague, 'The Free German League of Culture' (der Freie Deutsche Kulturbund) was founded in London, of which both Ernst and Ilse were members and active contributors. Ilse was subsequently evacuated to Cambridge with their daughter Eva between 1943-45. Following her divorce from Ernst, Ilse took Eva to join her maternal family in Palestine, where they had emigrated following the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938 but returned to London eight months later due to hostilities in the area. As a single mother living in Hampstead, Ilse worked as a translator and trained as an English and German teacher, teaching in Montessori schools and at evening classes at Goldsmiths College amongst other positions. Throughout her life in Britain, Ilse continued to be a staunch supporter of the Communist Party having become a member after her naturalisation in 1966. She contributed regularly to The Morning Star and amongst various other political and cultural organisations was an active member of the Association of Jewish Refugees, the Ethical Society and the Humanist Association.